


Countdown to Your Love (or Something Like That)

by onyxjay



Series: Soulmate September 2020 [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Aromantic Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Aromantic Morality | Patton Sanders, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:06:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26255371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onyxjay/pseuds/onyxjay
Summary: Meeting your soulmate is said to be the best day in your life. But Patton, whose idea of love is slightly different from the norm, has his doubts.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Soulmate September 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907428
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	Countdown to Your Love (or Something Like That)

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 - There is a timer that counts down to when you will meet your soulmate.

Twenty-four. Patton had finally turned twenty-four. And now the number etched in his skin for the year was gone. But he still had to wait another three months, three weeks, five days, seventeen hours, eight minutes, and forty-three seconds... forty-two seconds...

And so on.

All his life, Patton had heard his parents and older relatives talk about meeting their lifelong partner.

"You just know," his mother explained.

Four-year-old Patton couldn't even add big numbers.

"He makes me feel weak in the knees," his grandmother said.

Seven-year-old Patton had been worried she would fall over.

"One look in your mother's eyes and I was a goner," his father had said.

Ten-year-old Patton had thought that sounded dangerous.

"I feel butterflies in my belly when I think of him," said his cousin.

"You should release them," fourteen-year-old Patton had joked, though privately he thought that was uncomfortable.

It hadn't been until he was seventeen when he he realized what was so different about the way his family went on about soulmates compared to how he went about them: They all kissed and hugged and went on dates and all that lovely romantic stuff. And Patton? Well, that sounded all fine and dandy, but the moment the word romance was brought up, he cringed internally.

He finally confided in his friend, Logan, when they were studying for a test.

"I just don't feel the same way," he had told him fretfully. "What if my family hates me for it? My soulmate?"

Logan paused in his reading and bookmarked the page he was on. Then he closed the book and set it aside to give Patton his undivided attention.

"Have you ever heard of aromantic?" he asked.

Baffled, Patton shook his head.

"It's the lack of romantic attraction," said Logan, and then he opened up a whole new world Patton had never even considered.

Aromantic. It wasn't an exact fit, but it was close. Logan suggested he went to the library or looked online for more information as Logan was by no means an expert and didn't want to give the wrong information.

So that's what Patton spent that summer doing. Researching the aromantic identity and finding many others that were lesser known.

He couldn't exactly figure out which one fit him best, but Logan reassured him that was perfectly normal and even if he found one, it could and might change further down the line.

"Even now I struggle with my own identity," he said. "One day, I think I'm gay. The next, bi. Back to gay, maybe ace."

Next, Patton worked up the courage to tell his parents.

He nearly broke down in tears when they hugged him and told him over and over again it was okay. That not all soulmates were romantic in nature. That they loved him and were sorry they hadn't considered there were other approaches to romance besides the conventional one they themselves followed.

For Patton's twenty-fourth birthday, his parents had baked a cake with frosting the colors of the aromantic flag.

"We know you still haven't found an identity yet, but we hoped this would be enough," his mother explained.

Patton threw his arms around her and whispered, "It's perfect!"

They said meeting your soulmate would be the best day of your life. Personally, Patton thought today was.

Logan's timer was shorter than Patton's. So it was when they were walking into a store at the mall when it happened.

Patton had just pointed out a shirt that said "I'm always serious," to which Logan rolled his eyes and turned to walk off. He came to a stop as someone crashed into him.

"Sorry!" A very harassed-looking young man reached down to pick up the hangers he had dropped. "Work's been extra hectic today!"

He straightened up and his eyes met Logan's.

Having never witnessed someone meet their soulmate, Patton watched curiously as they simply stared at each other for a long moment. Then, as if by previous agreement, they looked at their wrists.

The timers had vanished.

They looked back at each other.

"Hello," said Logan.

"Hi," replied the worker. "I'm Virgil."

"Logan.”

"Is this the part where we exchange numbers and meet up later or something?" Virgil asked, sweeping his bangs aside.

Logan shrugged. "Works for me."

So they did.

"That was," Patton said slowly as they left, "anticlimactic."

"Maybe to you." To Patton's surprise, Logan's eyes were very bright and he was beaming like the sun. "I felt it. That tingly sensation, the — what do they call that giddy feeling? — the butterflies in my stomach. And the warm rush from the timer disappearing. Everyone feels that."

Patton nodded silently as Logan continued to gush. He sounded like his parents. His cousins. Former classmates in high school and college. He was like a completely different person.

Forty-one minutes and fifty-eight seconds.

Patton guessed it would be out here, walking back home, where he'd meet the one. Perhaps not the most magical of places, but neither was the mall.

"Are you sure he'll be accepting?" He still hadn't quite found an identity, but then again, he hadn't been looking as much in recent months. He knew he was aspec, and that was enough for him.

"I'm not," Logan admitted, "but Virgil and I are here for you if anything goes wrong."

Patton smiled. Virgil had simply shrugged when Patton told him and made no further comment. "Thanks, Lo."

Thirty-six minutes and thirty-some seconds.

"Hey, Logan?"

"Hm?"

"If I do ever want to do romantic stuff with my soulmate, what does that mean for me?"

"Absolutely nothing unless you decide it means something." Logan gripped his shoulder. "I may not be an expert on aromance, but I do know that it's your identity, your call. Okay?"

Patton nodded and fell silent.

Twenty-eight minutes and eleven seconds.

"Want to grab some ice cream?" Logan asked.

"Sure." Patton absolutely loved ice cream.

Logan ordered for both of them and they sat down to eat.

Thirteen minutes and nineteen seconds.

They finished eating and threw away the napkins.

Patton spotted a poster in the window and paused to read it. Huh, a sale. Patton would have to come back tomorrow.

Behind them, someone began singing very loudly and very off-key. And he kept on singing.

"Can the guy shut up already?" Logan grumbled when six minutes had passed.

And they sang some more. Until finally...

"Oh my god, Remus, will you shut up?! You're making a scene."

Patton instinctively turned around.

Two other men were facing each other. The one who had yelled had his back to Patton. The other, Remus, was grinning mischievously and wriggling around.

"I'm not the only one," Remus said, catching Patton's eye.

The second guy turned around.

A rush of warmth shot through Patton's wrist. He looked down. The timer was gone. He raised his head again to see the other person doing the same.

"You're welcome!" Remus sang and skipped past.

Patton's soulmate scowled after Remus briefly before turning back to Patton.

"Sorry about my brother. He was getting really excited about my timer going down."

Patton shrugged. "It's fine."

He waited for something, perhaps the butterflies in his stomach or some other indicator of love. There was only a mild excitement at finally meeting his other half.

"I'm Patton. And this is my friend Logan."

Logan waved. "Salutations."

"Greetings. I'm Roman," the guy said, dipping his head.

"Roman and Remus. Is it just a coincidence you're named that?" Patton asked.

"No, my parents really loved Roman mythology. I was almost called Romulus, but they settled for Roman."

"Well, I think they're both nice names."

Silence fell between them.

 _So now what?_ Patton wondered. Should he ask Roman out on a date? At the moment, the thought didn't settle well.

Roman seemed to be having the same uncertainty. "I'd ask you on a date, but romance isn't exactly my thing." He glanced at Patton nervously.

There it was, that feeling of giddiness. Although it wasn't for the same reason as Logan. "Aspec?"

Roman perked up. "Yes. And you?"

"Yeah!"

Perhaps having a soulmate wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Tumblr user tsshipmonth2020’s Soulmate September. Go check that out to support other fanworks.


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